Improvement in invalid-bedsteads



N. PETERS, PHOTO-L THOGRAPHER WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES Para Brien@WARREN S. HILL,

OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO C. S. BAKER, OF SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN INVALID-BEDSTEADS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,533, dated March 27,1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WARREN S. HILL, of Manchester, in the county ofHillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new andImproved Invalid or Hospital Bedstead 5 and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which-' Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section ofmy bedstead, taken in the plane of the line xx, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is abottom view of the bedstead.

Similar letters of reference indicate like Y parts.

This invention is designed especially for use in hospitals; and itconsists in the employment and arrangement of mechanism, as will behereinafter described, for raising the headrest or rack of the bedstead5 also, for lowering the foot portion of the bedstead to make thebedstead answer the purpose of a chair.

To enable others to understand my invention, I will proceed to describeit.

A A represent the head and foot posts, respectively, of the bedstead,and B B the side rails, and a a the slats. C is the head-rest or rack,carrying a number of the slats of the bedstead, and hinged to the siderails, so as to be capable of being raised and lowered, as desired.

The first part of my invention consists in the mechanism I employ forelevating this head-rest or rack.

D is a cogged segment, which is hinged to the side rails, B, (one ineach side,) of the bedstead, and connected to the rack C. This isoperated by a cog-wheel, E, which meshes with it, and is mounted on ashaft, F, running across the bedstead, and having its journals in theside rails thereof, one of which is carried through to permit theapplication of a crank, by which to turn the same.

A pawl, c, is pivoted to the side rail, one end of which engages withthe cog-wheel E, while the other constitutes a lever on which to pressin order to disen gage the pawl from the cog-wheel E.

Thus it will be seen that by turning the shaft F the rack can beelevated as desired, and held there by the pawl c, and that when thepawl c is disengaged from the cog-wheel E the rack will descend byreason of its own gravity.

The second part of my invention consists in the mechanism I employ forlowering the foot portion of the bedstead, and to admit the applicationof this part of my invention each side rail of the bedstead is made intwo parts, and the foot portion hinged to the other portion, so as to becapable of swinging down and carrying the foot-posts and foot-board withit, a pair of intermediate legs, Z Z, being provided, on which the headportion of the bedstead can rest when the foot portion is inclined orthrown down.

G (see Fig. 2) is a shaft carrying two cogw heels, H H. The said shaftextends through the side rail of the bedstead7 so as to permit theapplication of a crank for operating it. The wheel H is placed near theside rail, and it serves as a ratchet-wheel to be acted upon by a pawl,d, by which arrangement the foot portion of the bedstead can be loweredand held at any desired angle. The wheel H engages with a segment, I,which has its bearings in one of the central posts of the bedstead, andthe other in an arm or brace, J, extending from the same to the shaft G,one end of which latter also has its bearings in the said brace. Ajointed arm, K, is pivoted to the segment I and to a standard, e, or tothe bottom-end rail of the bedstead.

From the above description it can be seen that when it is desired tolower the foot portion of the bedstead it will be necessary to disengage the pawl d and rotate the shaft G. This causes the cog-wheel H toactuate the segment I, which, through the medium of the jointed arm K,draws down the foot of the bedstead, and thus the inclination of thelatter can be regulated as desired.

The position of the bedstead when it isvdesired to place the patient ina sitting posture is represented in red outline in Fig. l, in whichposition he can be placed without being removed from the bed.

I do not claim racks in connection with a bedstead, nor do I claim afolding bedstead; I atively to each other and operating in the butmanner` and for the purpose herein speeied.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- WARRENS' HILL The combination of the rack c, segment D, Witnesses:

cog-Wheel E, shaft Gr, wheels H, jointed :mn SAMUEL UPTON,

K, and feet A', constructed and arranged rel- ISAAC W. SMITH.

